5A Class Scenic Spot： The Dazu Rock Carving

5A Class Scenic Spot： The Dazu Rock Carving

Dazu Rock Carvings is the world cultural heritage， one of the 8 greatest caves in the world， national 5A class scenic spot， major historical and cultural sites under state protection， and one of ten cultural symbols of Chongqing. Dazu County， located at 104 miles （about 167 kilometers） from Chongqing on its east. The Buddhist statues dominate in this rock carving group， and the Taoist and the Confucian stone fi gures can also be seen in Dazu Rock Carvings， it named as “Pearl of Eastern Arts”.

There are 75 spots， more than 50，000 statues and over 100，000 Chinese characters of inscriptions and epigraphs in Dazu Rock Carvings. Beishan Rock Carving and Baodingshan Rock Carving are the most famous spots. Dazu Rock Carving， Mogao Caves， Yungang Caves， Longmen Caves， and Maiji Mountain Caves are four Chinese great caves. All of them are the aesthetic and creative products by ancient Chinese.

Beishan， Baodingshan， Nanshan， Shizhuanshan， and Shimenshan （abbreviated as five mountains） rock carvings are the signifi cant components of Dazu Rock Carving， and also the glorious heritage from late Tang Dynasty to Song Dynasty. The whole county has an area of 540 square miles （about 1，400 square kilometers）， and it owns a history of more than 1，200 years since it came into existence in 758 during the Tang Dynasty （618-907）. Dazu Rock Carvings was built from 650 in the Tang Dynasty and continued to the Ming Dynasty （1368-1644） and the Qing Dynasty （1616-1911）.